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Woman Shot by Stray Bullet Had Been Warned Not to Move to Chicago

February 9, 2016

(CHICAGO) — The father of a young woman who was struck in the head by a stray bullet in Chicago Friday has spoken out about his daughter’s tragic shooting, saying he warned her not to move to the Windy City.

Aaren O’Connor, 25, moved from California to Chicago just over a year ago for a new job and to be with her boyfriend.

“I pleaded with her when she told me she was going to go to Chicago. I said there are much safer places for you to be,” Aaren’s father, David O’Connor, told ABC owned station WLS-TV.

Aaren was killed as she was sitting in her car after work, her father told WLS. According to David O’Connor, Aaren was on the phone with her sister when the shooting happened. He tried calling his daughter back when the line cut out.

“She was incoherent, didn’t know where she was, and kept saying that her head hurts. Her head hurts,” he told WLS. “I wish I could have known what was going on, so I could have told her that I love her one more time.”

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Chicago Police Department have not yet confirmed O’Connor’s death.

O’Connor’s shooting comes as the murder rate in Chicago is markedly higher than this time last year.

According to a Chicago police spokesperson, there have been 69 murders in the city so far this year. By contrast, there had only been 35 murders during that same time period in 2015, meaning the number of homicides has almost doubled so far this year.

It should be noted that O’Connor is not one of those included in this year’s figures, since her death has not yet been officially reported.